If small towns are going to continue to generate the locally owned businesses that offer an alternative to regional and national stores, they ought to check out research from an MIT doctoral candidate.
The research, somewhat surprisingly, uses information from ravelry.com, a website known to its 8 million users as the Facebook of knitting. Data from the website, along with 99 interviews of knitters in a newsletter and three blogs, provides excellent insight into how some people make the take-a-deep-breath decision to turn a hobby into a business.
The MIT researcher found that by far, the most common reason that knitters started a business is because they’d been encouraged to do it by someone they knew, typically their husband or a friend.
If the knitters’ experience is an indication, self-confidence plays a big role in entrepreneurship. And the research is a reminder that success can be found in unexpected ways.
This is important to remember in smaller communities, where locally owned businesses play a vital role that is too often overlooked.
